


Bona Dea

by Romanumeternal



Series: Olia and Quintus [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ancient Rome, F/M, Sexual Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 00:18:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17818223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Romanumeternal/pseuds/Romanumeternal
Summary: Sealed in their room as the women-only Festival of the Good Goddess gets underway, Marius finds something out about his brother Quintus.





	Bona Dea

A loud, drunken, and indisputably female roar sounded from beneath them. Quintus glanced down at the carpet, irritably. 

 

"Dear Gods, what are they doing down there?"

 

"Whatever women do when there's no men around to guide them" said Marius, casually, barely looking up from his book. 

 

Quintus sniffed, at the justice of this, and then returned to his own book.  It was, he decided regretfully, not very good, and he was now reading it more out of a sense of obligation to the author than out of any actual desire. The sad thing was, he reflected, was that there were nuggets of interest buried here and there. Certainly, he was not one to be even slightly interested in animals normally, but octopuses, he'd decided, were more intriguing than he had hitherto thought; and had the author possessed more skill he rather thought he might be even more fascinated.  A high pitched whoop and the clash of cymbals jerked his attention from the page once more. 

 

_"Magna Mater, Bona Dea, Magna Mater, Bona Dea..."_

 

"Oh, come on..." he muttered.

 

The feminine voices downstairs joined together in a chant.  _"Good and Greatest Goddess and Mother of God, Man and Beast, Magna Mater, Bona Dea, Harbringer of the Harvest and Crafter of the Skies,  Magna Mater, Bona Dea, All-Loving Empress and Merciful Mother of Mankind,..."_

 

"It's the ritual" chuckled Marius. "What do you expect? It's how you honour the Great Mother."

 

Quintus sniffed. The exact ritual to honour the Good Goddess was, of course, utterly forbidden knowledge to the two men. However, it evidently involved drinking, drunken singing, laughter, drums, cymbals, and quite possibly, Quintus thought, inhalation of charas smoke. 

 

He yawned, and stretched out, on the couch, glancing at the clock.

"Still another four hours until dawn" he said.

As tradition decreed, most of the menfolk of the house had been sent elsewhere - and were now, Quintus considered, getting rather happily drunk in some bar. However, Quintus and himself had been selected for the high honour of staying in and safeguarding the women- sealed, of course, in their room; wreathes of ivy, barley and vines garlanding the door. Sia and Luka had, Quintus recalled, been giggling, already drunk, as they locked the two men in; Julia threatening them with curses r(ecited in Latin so antique they understood but one word in five) should they attempt to observe.

 

  "Reckon its going well?"

 

"Well, the world hasn't ended, so the Good Goddess can't have been too badly worshipped by our sister" said Marius. "And they're laughing, rather than performing human sacrifices, so I guess that's a good sign."

 

Quintus nodded. It had been somehow - Quintus had no idea how, when, or by who, but nonetheless it had been - decided that this year their sister Julia should oversee the rituals, rather than the female members of the house simply travelling to a relative's household for the celebrations. Needless to say, a Senator's household could not simply celebrate such a festival alone. Thus, a steady stream of women from the town had come to the villa, and for the week before Julia had been in a state of perpetual nervousness as she was none-too-gently taught the most sacred rituals of the Mother of the Universe. After all, it would be no small matter for the only daughter of a Senator to mess up one of the most sacred rituals she could perform - and in front of dozens of influential women. Privately, Quintus had considered that an unusually strong, and if he was honest utterly unsubstantiated, token of confidence from his father to his sister. 

 

"Normally, I do not think the ability to memorise facts is our dear sister's most obvious virtue. But she seems to have done herself proud."

 

  Marius snorted, and raised a glass of wine. "To our sister! Annoying though she may be!"

 

Quintus laughed, and raised his own glass. "To our sister!"

 

As if observing, there was an even louder shriek of hysterical laughter. 

"Gods, now what?"

"Oiling themselves up, getting drunk, and performing lascivious acts upon each other" said Marius. At his brother's stare, he grinned "Well, I have no idea. But that's what some of the rumours say." He paused. "Can't say I mind the idea of an oiled up Lukaminka, actually. Or Lucia, either."

 

"Lucia?" "You know, tall, slightly funny face, daughter of Honorious. Plays hard to get, but I think after a night of drinking and who-knows-what she'd be frisky enough. And if she isn't up for it, Luka would be."

 

"Well, that's something for you to look forward to" said Quintus, crisply. 

 

"Olia would be as well, I reckon" remarked Marius. Quintus looked at him, slightly coldly. Smirking, Marius continued. "Bit of advice from your brother. When she comes back, slap her ass, push her onto your bed and take her. She'll thank you for it."

 

"Do they teach you to be this crude in the Legions, Marius, or is it something that just comes naturally?"

 

"She's a woman, she'll be horny, she likes sleeping with you for some reason. I don't see the problem. You like sleeping with her, right?"

 

"As our father would say, no comment."

 

"Bullshit, I know you do." Marius paused, and then could resist adding. "Mind you, she's foreign, and a slave. I bet she knows all kinds of interesting-"

 

"Can we stop this conversation, please?" There was a slightly strained note to Quintus' voice. 

 

Marius chuckled, and through up his hands.  "Of course. Just teasing you brother." His voice became slightly less jocular. "No offence intended, honestly."

 

"I know" said Quintus, and grinned crookedly. "Gods know I'm used to mockery. Prefer not to mention Olly, though."

 

"Any particular reason?" Marius asked. "You're not a secret Volkish, are you?"

 

Quintus shrugged. "No idea. Just..." he trailed off, and then shrugged. "Well, she's a slave, I guess. I own her."

 

Marius frowned. "So? You've seen her, right? That should be cause for bragging." Marius' frowned deepened. "Gods, this isn't some weird hang up that it's wrong to fuck slaves, is it?"

 

Quintus outright laughed. "Of course not! Nah, how a man wants to use his own property is up to him. What business is it of mine? It's like judging a man for preferring other men."

 

"Good, just wanted to make sure you hadn't turned radical on me." There was a pause, and then Marius slowly smiled. "But, of course, you referred to the general, not the - how you say - the abstract?". His grinned widened.

 

Once more, the chant wafted up from downstairs. _Magna Mater, Bona Dea, Magna Mater, Bona Dea, Magna Mater, Bona Dea..._

 

"What?" "You're a sensible enough man that you know its perfectly alright for some man you don't know to fuck some slave you don't know. But when it comes to you and Olia, that isn't the case, is it?". He paused. "Gods, you're in fucking love with her, aren't you?"

 

"Don;t be a fool" snapped Quintus. "She's a slave, that's all. In my bed she's amusing and all, but she's just prop-"

 

"Oh, don't give me that bullshit, brother. I mean, don't get me wrong, Luka's _amusing_ in bed, but I don't get all hot and bothered when someone talks about fucking her. I like her well enough, but..." he outright laughed. "Romulus above, you're a fucking idiot, you know that?"

 

"I'm not in fucking love with a slavebitch-"

 

"Oh please. I put it down to me being with the Legion so much, I guess I don't see you enough for it to be obvious. But looking at it it makes sense, a lot of little things I'd previously put down to you just being a crippled, soft hearted..." He trailed off, smiling innocently at Quintus' glare. "You do a good job of hiding it, if it helps" he added. "I know you damn well, and it took me till five minutes ago to figure it out when you and her have been...what, four years or so together?"

 

"I don't know what you're talking about."

 

"In fairness, other than her station, you could have done a lot, lot worse. Pretty, kind, smart, probably likes you well enough, submissive as a woman should be but not enough to let you get away with any crap..."

 

Quintus just shook his head and folded his arms. "I told you, I'm not."

 

Marius took another sip of wine. "If you say so, brother. And rest assured I'm not fucking telling anyone." He cracked a grin. "I guess its just amusing that my oh-so-logical brother has fallen in love with a slavegirl."

 

"You can't be in love with a slave, Marius. You own them, after all, they exist just to be used. And besides, it's demeaning to be in love with one." He frowned, and then quoted Encilio. "' _How can a man giveth his heart to a tool he owns completely; a man or woman so degraded as to accept ignoble servitude rather than heroic death; property as much as a chair, or a tool, or a beast; its purpose merely to serve it's Master's will?  As it is foolish for a man to love his chair, or his tools, or his beasts, so surely it is obvious to all men that it is equally foolish to feel love for a slave?_  Rebukes, Book III" he added, in a tone slightly pompous. 

 

"And yet here we are" murmured Marius. "And I know the mad Cappadocian is Father's favourite philosopher, but I'm slightly worried you've memorized his works."

 

"I have to prove I'm his son somehow" Quintus grinned. "And it isn't that I've memorized them. I just had to write several assays on the-"

 

"Don't change the subject. You say all that, and yet really it's as clear as daylight, even to a fool like me." He yawned. "Not that I really care, if I'm honest." He shrugged, and looked at Quintus meaningfully. "All I'd ask is one thing."

 

"What?" said Quintus, slightly wearily.

 

"Treat her right" said Marius, unexpectedly strongly. "Whether as a slave or lover, whatever. You've got yourself into this fucking mess, falling in love with a slave, so its up to you how to bloody well figure out how it's going to work. But don't take your mistake out on her. She's a decent sort, and from what I know tolerates you well enough. And, if I'm honest, you'd struggle to find better than her." He shrugged again. "Just a word of friendly advice."

 

"You sound almost protective" muttered Quintus.

 

Marius laughed. "Hear that?"

 

Quintus cocked his head. The chant had started up again - although, he noted, there was decidedly less unison in it this time, and rather more slurring of the words. But he could still make it out. _"Magna Mater, Bona Dea, Mother of the World, Magna Mater, Bona Dea, Birther of the Gods, Magna Mater, Bona Dea, Protector of Her Daughters, Magna Mater, Bona Dea..."_

 

"What?"

 

"'Protector of Her Daughters'" grinned Marius. "If there's ever a good time to tell a man to watch how he treats his slavegirl..."

**Author's Note:**

> Encilio is a famous, much quoted and long dead philosopher. Living just before the Reunification, he's most famous for his three works - Rebukes to the Decadent and Rebellious, Arguments Against the Seditious, and On The Inequality of Man. His main theories - that men are naturally either rulers or ruled and that they should accept their places accordingly, that a strong ruler is by nature good, no matter his deeds, that slavery is both natural and for the good of both the enslaved and the free, and that the greatest honour a man can have is to die with his dignity intact - are unsurprisingly extremely popular amongst more conservative Romans. That said, nowadays even his greatest supporters recognise he is somewhat outdated and probably more than a little mad even in his own time; and read his works accordingly. 
> 
> I've taken a HUGE number of liberties with the 'Bona Dea' festival (for a start, 'Bona Dea' and 'Magna Mater' (the Great Mother') were not necessarily the same entity - 'Magna Mater' was explicitly referred to as Cybele whilst the Good Goddess herself was never given a firm name (although she was, to be sure, considered by some to have something to do with Cybele; the Romans on the whole not being too concerned about having a firm theology). Likewise, there's no mention of the festival requiring men be sealed in their rooms...although again, one might imagine poorer families, unable to send their menfolk out of the house proper, doing such a thing,


End file.
